Tianhuo Island is an island in the South China Sea with an active Volcano. Several years after losing her mother in a volcanic eruption, Meng Li (Hannah Quinlivan) has grown up following in her mother's footsteps to finish the Zhuque system whose purpose is to predict volcanic eruptions. Tianhuo has now become a resort destination by businessman Jack Harris (Jason Isaacs) who employs Meng as well as a tram of other volcanologists to monitor any potential disasters. When Meng's estranged father, Wentao Li (Wang Xueqi), comes to try and convince Meng to come back with him she refuses still harboring a grudge over the loss of her mother and his perceived absenteeism as a father, but eventually Tianhuo begins.
Released in 2019 after a series of delays, Skyfire from Chinese based companies Meridian Entertainment and Base FX was an attempt by the Chinese film industry to expand their reach to Western audiences in a similar fashion to how Western films have tried to reach coveted markets in Asia (especially China). When the film was shopped to international distributors at the Cannes Film Festival, producer Jennifer Dong revealed her intentions to do for Chinese disaster films what The Wandering Earth did for Chinese Science-Fiction films (with Wandering Earth currently the fifth highest grossing China production of all time). Dong further expressed intent on making Skyfire a franchise promising a trilogy of films, merchandising, and theme park attractions. While exact numbers are hard to come by, Skyfire never achieved widespread distribution in Western markets only opening at 2 theaters by Screen Media in the United States and despite debuting in China at #1 it only earned about $24 million in total (well short of the standards of The Wandering Earth). The movie itself? You'd be forgiven for thinking it's yet another cookie cutter disaster movie involving a volcano like When Time Ran Out, Dante's Peak, and Volcano, and I suppose it is, and yet the movie gets so insane with its execution I found myself thoroughly engrossed.
When the movie begins we pretty much hit all our disaster movie hallmarks. Ostentatious resort or structure just begging to be destroyed? Check. Obstacle to our protagonist motivated by maintaining image or profit? Check. Estranged family drama? Check. So you're probably wondering "what makes this so special?", well that would be in the sheer insanity in Skyfire's action sequences and leaps (sometimes literal) in logic. At about the 40 minute mark Simon West gives us non-stop crazy beginning with a scene where our main characters ride a loosened monorail car down the sheered side of the volcano and come out without a scratch on them (despite literally hovering in midair due to the fall), we have car chases with our heroes outrunning lava flows or pyroclastic clouds, heroic sacrifices that become unintentionally humorous, and a complete BS miraculous survival that'll leave you howling at the screen. At only 97 minutes the movie never overstays its welcome and it caps itself off perfectly with an ending credits that combines a music video for Jay Chou's "I Truly Believe" with behind the scenes footage showcasing the stunts and greenscreen work that went into making this movie. And if there's a better way to end a movie like this, I haven't thought of it.
Skyfire is disaster nonsense, but it's the kind of insane disaster nonsense I can't help but love. While the opening 40 minutes are pretty standard setup for a movie like this (hologram projectors notwithstanding) the remaining 50 minutes are an orgy of exaggerated volcanic destruction that'll take you back to being five years old and getting that giddy thrill of watching Twister or Dante's Peak. I'm actually kind of sad we're never going to get those Skyfire sequels now.
